1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a remote operation system for a robot for facilitating the restoring operation of the robot.
2. Description of the Related Art
Since a robot is configured as a system within an automatic production line by a user or a system manufacturer after shipped from a factory, the setting condition (hereinafter referred to as parameters) of the robot itself is surely optimized. These parameters of the robot operate in cooperation from one another. Thus, when a part of the parameters is modified or changed, an unexpected trouble may be caused. Further, when the parameter or the command within the operation instruction applied to the robot is erroneously designated (hereinafter referred to as program miss), a trouble may be caused. When a trouble is caused in the user side due to the program miss, the user determines the cause of the trouble while confirming the parameters of a controller for the robot and the operation instruction program. In the case where the user can not determine or specify the cause, the user writes program or parameters relating to the contents of the trouble on a memo paper etc., then contacts with the robot manufacturer or the service company of the robot by telephone, facsimile or the like and inquires about the cause of the trouble and the method of avoiding the trouble.
However, in recent years, the program has been complicated due to the progress of the technology of the robot. Thus, it has been difficult for a general user to accurately determine the program information relating to the trouble of a robot and contact with the robot manufacturer or the service company of the robot. Further, since a service staff of the robot manufacturer or the service company can not directly look at the robot or the controller thereof (including the parameters thereof), it is difficult for the service staff to determine the cause of the trouble based on the information from the user.
Accordingly, much time is wasted in order to determine the cause of the trouble since it is required for the user and the service staff to contact to each other by telephone or facsimile for many times. Further, when the cause of the trouble can not be determined by the aforesaid method, since it is required to send the service staff to the user side, it takes further time for the staff to move to the user side. In particular, when the user locates at a remote place, there arises a problem that the production efficiency is degraded due to the stop of the robot for a long time and the service fee such as transportation expense becomes large.
Thus, there has been proposed a restoring method as disclosed in Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. Hei. 3-178789, wherein, in the case where the trouble of a robot is caused, the robot is restored by using voice of workers in the vicinity of the robot picked up by a microphone or using an image indicating the position or posture of the robot and the state of a control apparatus outputted from a television camera, thereby to eliminate the conventional problem caused by using telephone or facsimile etc.
FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing the remote diagnostic device for the numerically controlled machine tool disclosed in Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. Hei. 3-134713, which propose to eliminate the trouble of the numerically controlled machine tool without using the aforesaid means such as telephone or facsimile etc. in a manner that a screen similar to an operation panel is displayed on a CRT serving as a display device and the numerically controlled machine tool is remotely operated by using the displayed screen.
The explanation will be made as to such a conventional device by using FIG. 5. In the figure, reference numeral 20 designates a computer serving as a remote operation terminal; 30, the numerically controlled machine tool to be operated remotely; 40, a communication line; and 42, a modem. Further, reference numeral 21 designates a central processing unit (CPU) of the computer 20; and 25, a key board of the computer 20 which can input signal in the similar manner as the operation of the numerically controlled machine tool. The publication discloses that a mouse, a write pen, a touch panel or the like may be used as a signal input device in place of the key board 25. Reference numeral 27 designates the display device connected to the computer 20 for displaying the operation panel of the numerically controlled machine tool 30.
The operation of such a conventional device will be explained. In the case where a trouble is caused in the numerically controlled machine tool 30, as shown in the figure, a service staff connects the computer 20 to the numerically controlled machine tool 30 by way of the modem 42 and the communication line 40. Then, the service staff turns the computer 20 on to display a screen similar to the operation panel of the numerically controlled machine tool 30 on the display device 27 by the operation of the software dedicated to the terminal. Thereafter, the service staff inputs signal from the key board 25 while seeing the display screen thereby to display the information of the numerically controlled machine tool 30 side on the display device 27 to determine the cause of the trouble and apply the operation instruction from which the cause of the trouble is eliminated to the numerically controlled machine tool 30.
In recent years, due to the progress of the technology of a robot, it has been difficult for a general user to accurately inform a service staff of program information according to the aforesaid failure diagnosis method using telephone or facsimile and so it takes a long time to solve the problem.
The aforesaid method of diagnosing the state of a robot by using voice or image as disclosed in Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. Hei. 3-178789 requires a dedicated device such as an expensive camera or monitor etc. Further, in such a method, it is difficult for a user to execute the operation procedure for eliminating the trouble in the same manner as designated by the service staff on the basis of the audio and image information.
Further, in the remote diagnostic device for the numerically controlled machine tool disclosed in Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. Hei. 3-134713, even if the cause of the trouble is specified, since it is impossible for the user side to know the operation procedure for eliminating the trouble and so there is a case where the trouble is caused for several times.